Strawberry cheesecake bars combine a graham cracker crust, strawberry cheesecake filling, and an oat crumble in a layered treat that everyone will love.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, you can spray the bottom and sides of the pan well with non-stick spray.
Combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl until well mixed. Make a small well in the center and add in the melted butter. Mix together until the butter is all mixed in.
Pour the graham cracker mixture into the prepared baking dish and press down lightly into the pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes then remove and set aside.
Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla in another bowl to make your cheesecake filling while the crust is baking.
16 ounces cream cheese, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Cook in the pan at medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes until the strawberries let go of their juice.
While the strawberry mixture is cooking, combine the brown sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir it into the strawberry mixture and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly over medium-high heat. Once the mixture has thickened and looks like the filling for a pie, remove from heat.
1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1 1/2 TBS cornstarch
Combine the oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cold butter cubes together in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter or your fingers to cut the butter into the other ingredients until it turns into a coarse crumble.
1 cup old fashioned oats, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 6 TBS unsalted butter
Make the cheesecake bars by pouring the cheesecake filling over the crust, topping that with the strawberry sauce, and finally evenly spreading the oat crumble over top of the strawberry sauce.
Bake the cheesecake bars for 50 to 70 minutes depending on how your oven cooks. You want to cook it until the top is golden brown - don't keep cooking after it's golden brown or you'll end up with burnt topping.
Remove from the oven and let the bars cool still in the pan on a wire rack for 30 to 60 minutes to allow both the pan and the bars to cool down.
Transfer to the refrigerator to cool for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before removing from the pan using the parchment paper and slicing into squares.
Serve chilled topped with fresh strawberries for garnish.
Notes
Line your baking pan with parchment paper to make it really easy to remove the bars from the pan for slicing after they’ve chilled. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can spray the pan with cooking spray and serve them right from the baking dish.Refrigerate the bars in an airtight container for up to four days. Or if you still have them in the pan, you can cover tightly with plastic wrap.Bars can be left out for up to two hours at room temperature. After two hours, they should be put back in the refrigerator. Because of this, I recommend not bringing them out until you’re ready to actually serve them – they taste best chilled!These strawberry cheesecake bars can be frozen for up to three months. Chill the bars in the refrigerator overnight to make sure they’re cooled completely. Wrap the bars up tightly in plastic wrap or put in a freezer safe airtight container for freezing. Remove from the freezer and allow to come to room temperature to thaw.Serving Size Note: While this recipe is written to make 9 bars, each of those bars are very large! You can totally cut this into 12 or 16 bars as well for smaller portions.